No one has done more than Dirk van der Niepoort to put table wines from the Douro Valley on the serious wine collector’s radar. From the fifth generation of this highly distinguished Dutch port-shipping family, Dirk led the way for unfortified Douro wines from 1990. It was his first wine, Robustus, initially scoffed at even by his father, that would become, in my view, Portugal’s greatest dry red. Robustus comes from Niepoort’s oldest, north-facing vines, providing power and structure but a strong acid backbone.
Besides table wines, which also include the Bordeaux-like Redoma and Burgundy-like Charme, Niepoort continues to make outstanding ports. Naturally, its focused and often subtle Vintage Ports stand out, but so do its Colheita and tawny ports. In fact, only Niepoort offers the so-called Garrafeira Port, a limited-edition tawny port aged in 19th-century, green-glass, 10-litre demijohns for decades.
Niepoort will be pouring at our upcoming Great Wines of the World Asia 2017. Get your tickets today!